Bill Davis Racing sues sponsor 360 OTC for non-payment
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Bill Davis Racing alleges that Rockford-Montgomery Labs has paid only $25,000 of the $14 million it was supposed to pay for sponsorship of the No. 36 Cup entry last season, according to a lawsuit filed April 2 in North Carolina Superior Court in Winston Salem, N.C.
RML is the maker of 360 OTC, a line of hangover and headache medicine.
The sponsorship was a three-year deal that was scheduled to increase to $14.5 million in 2008 and $15 million in 2009. There was a
sponsor’s option for 2010 for $15.5 million.
According to the lawsuit, RML also did not pay any of the $3 million it owed as a primary sponsor for the No. 36 truck and $1 million it owed to be primary sponsor for 10 races of the No. 23 truck.
“Bill Davis [Racing] is a wonderful bunch of people and a wonderful race team, and it is a shame that this has happened,” BDR attorney John Morrow said.
This is the latest in a series of lawsuits against RML, which has been sued by Just Marketing, which was handling the NASCAR sponsorship, as well as by the World of Outlaws and World Wrestling Entertainment. An attorney who represents RML in the World of Outlaws and the WWE case did not immediately return a request for comment.
The 22-page sponsor contract with BDR for the Cup car included the following provisions:
• BDR and RML would mutually agree on the driver and crew chief. Jeremy Mayfield drove the car for much of last season.
• The driver was required to do 30 three-hour off-track appearances (with travel paid by the sponsor) during the year in addition to one-hour hospitality events on each race day.
• There are behavioral clauses in the contract that if the owner or sponsor were not happy with a team member’s or driver’s conduct, that the team would use its “best efforts to cure dissatisfaction and/or replace the driver or race team member.” Any illegal use of drugs or alcohol required immediate dismissal. That clause also is in the truck contract, and Craftsman Truck Series driver Tyler Walker was dismissed last year after he failed a NASCAR drug test.
• The team would get performance bonuses of $2 million for a top-five points finish, $1 million for a top-10 points finish, $200,000 for
a Daytona 500 win, $100,000 for a Brickyard 400 win and $50,000 for a race win.
• BDR would attempt to qualify an additional car for the Daytona 500 in hopes of getting at least one of the cars into the race as the team did not have one of the guaranteed starting spots.
• RML had plans to produce a NASCAR-related reality show, and BDR granted “reasonable access” to his race team for the show.
• RML would get 10 pit tour passes per race and three seats at the rear of one of the pit boxes during the race.
• If BDR’s car was not allowed to qualify for an event because it failed inspection, BDR had to reimburse RML.
• BDR had to carry $5 million in liability insurance.
